Teen suffered stroke after attack outside shopping centre left her in a coma

A teenage girl was left in a coma and suffered a stroke after being attacked by a ‘group of women’ outside a shopping centre.

Her family are now desperately appealing for witnesses of the violent assault to come forward, Nottingham Post reports.

Mariam Moustafa, was out shopping in the intu Victoria Centre when she was repeatedly punched by the gang last Tuesday at 8pm.

And the 18-year-old engineering student has been left in an induced coma .

Mariam had just been offered a place at university in London and was shopping in the city centre when she was attacked by what police describes as "a group of women".

She had agreed to meet her mum and sister later that evening, but she never showed up. Her family were told about the incident and quickly made their way to the Queen’s Medical Centre where the details of the incident unfolded.

Her parents, Mohamed Moustafa and Nessrin Shehata, were upset to find she had been punched several times before she was further verbally assaulted after getting onto the number 27 bus.

Her sister, Mallak, 15, speaking on behalf of the family said: "We are very upset about what has happened, she is such a kind, ambitious person and one who was running after her dreams of being an engineer.

"We don’t understand who would do this to her, she is very quiet and never gets involved in any problems. She was originally released from hospital on the same day and once we got her home she started to deteriorate and so she was rushed back to hospital.

"We were told that there was a bleed on her brain and she had suffered a stroke, one side of her body is now not responding. She is now in a coma and has been in that way for a week since the night of the attack.

"We never got to find out what happened from her because she didn’t get a chance to tell us before she fell unwell.

"We are hoping that her brain is recovering while she is in a coma and until that happens we will continue to be by her side every day at the hospital. We are all very shocked and upset and don’t know what to do.

"We just want those who did this to Mariam to be found as what has happened is wrong."

Nottinghamshire Police appealed for witnesses on Monday to help with the investigation.

Detective Sergeant Kayne Rukas, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "We know there were a lot of people walking in the street and standing at the bus stop at the time of the assault who may have information that could help us with our investigation.

"There were also a lot of people on the bus who may be able to help us with our enquiries.

"The victim is now very unwell and in a serious condition in hospital. We’re urging anyone with any information about the assaults to please get in touch with us."

A spokesman for Nottingham City Transport said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of this young lady at this very difficult time.

"CCTV from the bus has been provided to Nottinghamshire Police as part of their investigation in to this appalling attack and we continue to support their efforts to identify the culprits.

"We would also like to publicly recognise our driver, who went upstairs to intervene and acted as a barrier between the attackers and the young lady, after he asked them to leave the bus."

Anyone with any information is asked to call Nottinghamshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 335 of 21 February 2018, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.